Last weekend’s G7 Summit didn’t go as smoothly as many had hoped.
President Trump and his staff lobbed insultsat Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office posted a photoon Instagram of a tense exchange between the president and six of the country’s closest allies. And, the president called for an additionto the summit — Russian President Vladimir Putin.
News analyst Charlie Sennott joined Boston Public Radio to explain how the bumpy G7 might impact tomorrow’s long-awaited Singapore summit, the meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“If I were the North Koreans, after just watching the Trump administration pull out of [different deals], you’d have to wonder, what can you negotiate with this guy? Doesn't he just go back on his deals?” said Sennott.
Trump rescinded his signature on an agreement from the G7 after leaving the summit.
Sennott says Trump’s withdrawal does not bode well for the United States’ relationship with its allies, or with countries like North Korea.
“That idea, that he is someone that goes back on his deals and will burn someone in the process ... that petulance doesn’t sit well going into a negotiation as complex, as layered as the one that will be taking place in the next few hours in Singapore,” said Sennott.
Sennott said that Trump “continually weakens [the country’s] position” through his Twitter diplomacy, and said he is “hopeful” about the North Korea Summit, without being especially optimistic.
“I think we all want to hope for the best; we all want to see a breakthrough in the Korean Peninsula,” Sennott said. “It is a question [of] whether this president can bring that success.”
Charlie Sennott is a news analyst at WGBH, where he also heads up the GroundTruth Project.
